Voices from the Kavango
A Study of the Contract Labour System in Namibia, 1925–1972
Kletus Muhena Likuwa
ISBN 9783906927190
Foreword by Uma Dhupelia-Mesthrie
Basel Namibia Studies Series 22, Basler Afrika Bibliographien, August 2020
ca. 200 p., paperback, four colour laminated, 170 mm x 244 mm, maps, illustrations, index, Postgraduate/Library
Voices from the Kavango explores the contribution that the life histories and the voices of the contract labourers make to our understanding of the contract labour system in Namibia. In particular it asks: is it possible to view the migration of the Kavango labourers as a progressive step, or does the paradigm of exploitation and suppression remain the dominant one? The study highlights contract labourers engaging in a defeating activity and their disappointment with the little rewards which were non-lasting solutions to their problems. The realization of their entrapment under the contract system and the eventual frustrations led to the political mobilization for independence by SWAPO.
Kletus Likuwa obtained his PhD from the University of the Western Cape for the thesis which comprises this book. He is the Deputy Director for the Multidisciplinary Research Centre (MRC) at the
University of Namibia in Windhoek.
